India has a pipeline of 65 clean energy industrial projects, the third-highest after China and the US, spread across the chemicals, steel, cement, aluminium, and aviation sectors, concentrated in states such as Odisha, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Rajasthan.
The findings are part of a report by the Industrial Transition Accelerator (ITA), a global multi-stakeholder initiative launched at COP28 to catalyse decarbonisation across the heavy-emitting industry and transport sectors, which together represent a third of global emissions.
ITA is led by Co-Chairs Sultan Al Jaber (Minister for Industry and Advanced Technology of the UAE and COP28 President), Simon Stiell (UN Climate Change Executive Secretary), and Michael R. Bloomberg (UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions)
India-born American politician Ghazala Hashmi has been elected as Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor, becoming the first Muslim and South Asian American to be elected to the top political post in the State.
Ms. Hashmi, 61, a Democrat secured 1,465,634 votes (54.2%), way ahead of her Republican rival John Reid, who secured 1,232,242 votes, with 79% of the votes in.
The Virginia State Senator, who emerged victorious on Election Day (November 4, 2025), was among the over 30 Indian-Americans and South Asian candidates running for office for key nationwide positions in the 2025 elections.
Ms. Hashmi is the first Muslim and the first South Asian American to serve in the Virginia Senate.
Zohran Mamdani (November 4, 2025) made history by becoming New York City’s first Muslim mayor-elect, and its youngest since 1917, topping off a stunning grassroots campaign led by the message of affordability and upending a political class dominated by wealthy donors.
In his victory speech before a jubilant crowd in Brooklyn, the 34-year-old former state assemblyman declared, “Tonight, New York has stepped from the old into the new.” Quoting from Jawaharlal Nehru’s ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech, Mr. Mamdani said, “Standing before you, I remember the words of Jawaharlal Nehru.
A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.”
The 34-year-old democratic socialist and state assembly member from Queens, secured victory with more than 50% of the vote.
He defeated both a Republican challenger Curtis Sliwa and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was backed by a formidable coalition of billionaires who spent millions in an effort to block his rise.
Cuomo, 67, finished second with just over 40%, while Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa received just over 7% of the vote.
Google announced a new research project that aims to launch AI chips into space via solar-powered satellites called Project Suncatcher. The new ‘moonshot’ project was jumpstarted because Google believed that space could be the best place to scale AI compute.
The idea has come out as the world deals with the growing environmental impact in terms of water and electricity from the construction of AI data centers.
Google plans to launch a couple of prototype satellites by 2027 in partnership with the company Planet.
The island nation of the Maldives has officially become the first country in the world to impose a generational ban on tobacco smoking, outlawing the buying, selling, or use of tobacco products for anyone born on or after 1 January 2007.
The law defines that individuals born on or after 1 January 2007 will never be legally allowed to purchase, use, or be sold tobacco products in the Maldives. The Maldives’ generational tobacco ban is the latest step in the country’s long-standing campaign against smoking, which also includes a strict prohibition on electronic cigarettes.
In late 2024, the Maldivian government banned the import, possession, use, manufacture, and sale of all vaping products, applying the restriction to people of all ages.
The ban came into force on November 1 across the archipelago, a move the Ministry of Health hailed as a historic milestone in safeguarding public health and fostering a tobacco-free generation.
Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood and the National Technology Adviser to the United Kingdom Dr. David Warren Smith unveiled the pilot version of India-United Kingdom Science and Technology Partnership (IN-UK-STP) Dashboard on 4th November 2025, in a bilateral meeting that took place in Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.
The pilot version of the IN-UK-STP dashboard, jointly developed by the Office of PSA and the British High Commission in India, covers 143 bilateral projects jointly supported and implemented by various stakeholders from India and UK, from 2018 onwards. The dashboard maps the projects in terms of funding value, implementing partners and funding agencies from both sides.
The project mapping is also done with respect to the India-UK Science and Innovation Council (SIC) goals, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and broad areas of technology cooperation to understand the strategic alignment and synergy with the high-level bilateral priorities.
The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, has facilitated the export of 20 metric tonnes of Fortified Rice from Chhattisgarh to Papua New Guinea (PNG).
This consignment represents yet another significant milestone in India’s ongoing endeavour to augment its agricultural export portfolio and to strengthen the nation’s reputation as a reliable supplier of high-quality, fortified, and value-added food products in global markets.
The Ministry of Culture will organize the Inaugural Ceremony of the Commemoration of 150 Years of the National Song “Vande Mataram” on 7th November 2025 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, New Delhi. The occasion will be graced by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi as the Chief Guest.
This event marks the formal launch of a year-long nationwide commemoration from 7th November 2025 to 7th November 2026, celebrating 150 years of this timeless composition which inspired India’s freedom movement and continues to evoke national pride and unity.
The Indian Navy is poised to enhance its hydrographic survey capabilities with the commissioning of Ikshak, the third vessel of the Survey Vessel (Large) [SVL] class and the first to be based at the Southern Naval Command. The ship will be formally commissioned into service in presence of Adm Dinesh K Tripathi, Chief of the Naval Staff, at a ceremony at Naval Base, Kochi.
Built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd., Kolkata, Ikshak stands as a shining example of India’s growing self-reliance in shipbuilding. The vessel embodies over 80% indigenous content, reflecting the success of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative and collaborative synergy between GRSE and Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
The name ‘Ikshak’, meaning ‘Guide’ in Sanskrit, aptly defines the ship’s role as a sentinel of precision and purpose. The vessel is designed to undertake full-scale coastal and deep-water hydrographic surveys of ports, harbours, and navigational channels. The data generated will be vital for ensuring safe navigation at sea, strengthening India’s maritime safety framework.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), under the IndiaAI Mission unveiled the India AI Governance Guidelines, a comprehensive framework to ensure safe, inclusive, and responsible AI adoption across sectors.
The launch marks a key milestone ahead of the India–AI Impact Summit 2026, as India strengthens its leadership in responsible AI governance.
The guidelines propose a robust governance framework to foster cutting-edge innovation, and safely develop and deploy AI for all while mitigating risks to individuals and society.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (November 3, 2025) launched the Rs. 1 lakh crore RDI Fund to promote private sector investments in research and development.
He launched the Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund at the first-ever Emerging Science Technology and Innovation Conclave (ESTIC),
that brings together policy makers, innovators and global visionaries to drive the government’s Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.
Mr. Modi also launched a coffee table book on scientific achievements of India and a vision document for science and technology.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is the nodal ministry of the RDI Fund that will operate through a two-tiered funding structure.
At the first level, a Special Purpose Fund (SPF) will be established within the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), which will serve as the custodian of the ₹1 lakh crore corpus.
The Fund will not directly invest in industries and start ups but will channel capital to second-level fund managers, who can be Alternative Investment Funds (AIF), Development Finance Institutions (DFI), Non-banking Finance Companies (NBFCs), among others.
Recommendations for support will be made by second-level fund managers through investment committees comprising experts from financial, business, and technical domains operating at arm's length from the government.
MOIL has recorded production of 1.60 lakh tonnes of Manganese ore in October, 2025, which is its best ever October month production since inception, higher by 9.1% in comparison to corresponding period last year (CPLY). During first seven months of FY’26, the company has recorded production of 11.04 lakh tonnes, which is higher by 8.5% over CPLY.
Continuing its strong focus on exploration, MOIL has achieved its highest-ever exploratory core drilling of 57,275 meters during the period April–October 2025.
Commenting on the performance, Shri Ajit Kumar Saxena, CMD, MOIL, stated, “It is encouraging that the upward trend in production during the first seven months has been maintained.
India has lost its top spot as the most represented higher education system in the 2026 QS World University Rankings for Asia to China, after two years, with nine out of its ten highest-ranked institutions slipping in rank from last year. India now stands second in Asia.
According to this year’s rankings, 137 Indian universities entered the list, bringing the country’s total to 294, while China added 261 institutions, reaching a total of 395. Overall, 1,529 universities featured in the rankings this year.
